George Zimmerman, the man who shot Trayvon Martin but was acquitted, is signed up to fight in a pay-per-view celebrity boxing match. The most likely opponent for the March 1st match-up is rapper DMX. The proposed fight has elicited an array of responses, from proponents asking DMX to avenge Martin’s death to people pleading with DMX not to participate. In many ways the fight resembles the activities of ancient Rome, where gladiators would fight for their lives in a public arena and the spectacle distracted the masses from other concerns.

Host Frank Stasio talks with Naeemah Clark, professor of communications at Elon University; Mark Anthony Neal, professor of African-American Studies at Duke University; and Mary Tolly Boatwright, professor of Classics at Duke University; about the fight, criminality and celebrity in the public sphere.